Topic
Defunct spacecraft and fragments orbiting Earth at high speed, posing collision risks to active satellites and crewed vehicles.
NASA's SSPICY mission, launched Oct. 1 on a Starfish Space Otter, will autonomously inspect up to four defunct US objects from early 2027. NASA says it is the first flight to test the craft's electric propulsion, thruster boom and navigation software together as one system.
Reality
USA 32, a US spy satellite launched in 1988, broke apart on Sept. 13 at 775 km, in a region thought to hold at least 200 other satellites. By Sept. 28 no one had published a fragment count or a cause, so the risk to those neighbors cannot yet be sized.
Reality
The US said on September 14 that it has weapons in space, the first nation to acknowledge such weapons publicly. The open question is which kind it has, because the kinds differ widely in how much debris they would leave in orbits every nation shares.
Reality
Troy Meink said on September 14 that the United States has on-orbit space control weapons. A day later in Beijing, a Chinese analyst called a taboo broken and a Secure World Foundation analyst said the 1967 treaty was not violated.
Reality
Troy Meink said the US has fielded on-orbit space control weapons, the first American acknowledgement of the kind, though he gave no detail on the weapons or their targets, leaving the consequence in the UN argument over a ban.
Perspective Coverage
4 publishersReality